It is now apparent that incoming UA freshman five-star basketball recruit Brayden Burries wishes to wear jersey No. 10 at Arizona, which has been Burries’ high school number.
Arizona long ago yielded to incoming players and has allowed them to wear the retired jerseys of Mike Bibby (10), Steve Kerr (25), Jason Gardner (22), Jason Terry (31) and Miles Simon (34).
Steve Kerr, addresses an audience at McKale center Jan. 9, 1999, during a ceremony in which his No. 25 UA basketball jersey was retired.
Only Sean Elliott‘s 32 has been held sacred and not worn by anyone since Elliott’s graduation in 1989.
Hard to believe, but Bibby’s No. 10 has already been worn by Azuolas Tubelis, Ryan Luther, Lauri Markkanen and Jemarl Baker. That doesn’t sit right. When Kerr Kriisa wore Kerr’s No. 25, that was hard to swallow, as were the years Terrell Brown Jr. and Matt Korcheck wore Terry’s No. 31.
Can you imagine UCLA allowing someone to wear Bill Walton‘s 32, Reggie Miller‘s 31 or Lew Alcindor’s 33? None have been permitted to wear those retired Bruins jerseys.
The UA says that the jerseys are not really “retired” but simply displayed as an honor to Kerr, Elliott and those All-Americans.
The UA should reconsider what those not-so-retired jerseys mean.
